Hang On a Minute… Is AI Worsening EX?

In this new world where AI innovation is pushing the traditional agent into a specialist complaint handler role, Stephen Pace questions whether this is actually having a negative impact on contact centre retention rates, eroding the employee experience by challenging agents with a role they are both underpaid for and not skilled enough to cope with.

“Your Role Will Be to Deal With Irate Customers Disappointed by AI…”

Here is an example of a post-AI job advertisement:

OK, so this may seem a bit extreme, but the reality is that a decade ago agents experienced a mix of real (and that’s what we’re talking about here!) customer experiences.

Some were positive and good for their mental health and some negative and not so good for their mental health. Now, AI has changed the mix to mostly, if not all, negative.

Agents Aren’t Being Given the Extra Support or Financial Compensation for Being a Specialist Complaints Handler

Unfortunately, rather than providing extra support or financial compensation for what is now a specialist complaints handler role, many employers are taking the savings on offer from AI and asking agents to do a job they are not experienced or skilled enough to cope with.

Complaint handlers used to be supervisor-level employees with several years’ experience dealing with tough situations, and they were paid and trained accordingly.

It is true, however, that agent tools have improved, and having access to knowledge base articles and prompts often powered by AI is a great way to reduce stress and cognitive load, but the real person-to-person (human) interactions are what I’m referring to.

Many companies seem unwilling to invest in people and instead they are spending millions just keeping on top of staffing levels while eroding CX and EX.

AI could make this problem worse and lead to an even tougher employment market, where finding people who will accept low pay to do what is a specialist job will become even more challenging.

If you are looking for information on the impact AI may have on your contact centre’s knowledge management, read our article: Is AI Really a Game-Changer in Knowledge Management?

The Lack of Attention to Wellbeing and Mental Health Will Backfire

Add to this a clear focus on AI from senior execs and CEOs, with Call Centre Helper’s What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now report highlighting that cost reduction is one of the biggest drivers for implementing AI – as seen in the graph below.

Coupled with the fact that the same report shows agent satisfaction appearing 8th on the Most Important Contact Centre Metrics list, these are worrying trends, which are not giving any attention to people’s wellbeing and mental health and will very likely backfire.

Customer care, contact centre, call centre, helpdesk agents, employees, workers – call them what you want – should be recognized for the increased stress being caused by AI leaving them to pick up the pieces on almost every call.

Not only that, employers should proactively support their people before ploughing all of their money into AI or the savings will simply be transferred to recruitment and training, negating any ROI.

Those Thinking “Now I Can Fire 14% of My Customer Service Agents” Are Missing the Point

So, what’s the right approach?

Matt Asay, ex Principal at Amazon Web Services and Head of Developer Ecosystem for Adobe, recently wrote an article for Info World where he stated:

Yin and Yang, or in other words “Balance”. As employers we automatically take on responsibility for the wellbeing of our employees.

Those who believe being paid to do a job is enough and that their employees should be grateful will end up with the least loyal and least skilled employees.

Research has shown that being treated well and working for a company with the right values is… Yes, more important than money!

Younger Workers Feel Increasingly Undervalued, Ill-Equipped, and Disconnected From Their Workplace

A report by digital workspace company LiveTiles found younger workers feel increasingly undervalued, ill-equipped, and disconnected from their workplace.

Of 24–34-year-olds, 80% said they were dissatisfied with their connection to their company’s organizational culture, and 76% felt they lacked the right tools for the job.

On a technical note, if your AI programs are falling short of employees’ expectations it won’t be the older employees who notice inefficiencies, it will be the young ones, because they have grown up with big brand tech and know what slick tech feels like, and they will tell their friends.

Young workers will also choose to work elsewhere if you don’t tick the sustainability box. Another study found that nearly half (48%) of Gen Z workers agree they would consider leaving a job that didn’t “walk the talk” in its promises on sustainability, and two-fifths of all workers (42%) say they’d accept a job on lower pay to work for a more ethical or environmentally active organization. This rose to 66% amongst the Gen Z demographic.

For advice on how to attract (and retain) Generation Z workers to your contact centre, read our article: Attract Gen Z! How to Entice the Newest Workforce Into Your Contact Centre

Contact Centres Are Placing All Their Bets on AI

All the while contact centres are placing all their bets on AI, rushing roll-outs and investing heavily in one place, the workforce is looking for somewhere to work where their voice is heard, where they feel connected to decent brand values and culture, and where they can see evidence that their employers care about them and the planet.

The research is clear and it’s being confirmed by multiple studies across the globe: recruiting and keeping good people is getting tougher. AI is NOT the answer because by its very nature it exaggerates the very things that trigger good people to leave your organization!

How to Get the Right Balance Between AI and EX

Finally, if the above sounds familiar and you want to turn the situation around, here are some top tips on how to re-establish balance in your AI/EX strategy:

Give Agents the Tools They Need

Acknowledge the fact that will not always meet customer needs and your people will take the flak and give them the tools to balance this out. Yin and Yang.

Include Agents When Testing AI

This is such a cool way to increase engagement, emphasize employee value and use the young minds in the team to help you get the tech right.

Have Environmental and Sustainability Actions

Be clear about your environmental and sustainability actions, targets and goals.

Create Wellbeing Values

Have a clear set of values which include the wellbeing of employees and the delivery of outstanding customer care.

This must be backed up with workable ratios between staff levels and work volumes. Squeeze this too tightly and you will pay far more to recruit lost staff than the savings you “think” you can get from running low on resource all the time.

Written by: Stephen Pace, “The Contact Centre Motivator” at Optymyse Ltd.

If you are looking for more articles on AI in the contact centre, read these next:

• The Superhuman Touch – How to Blend Agents and AI for Maximum Impact
• All Aboard! Get Your AI Journey Off to the Best Start
• The AI Revolution – How Contact Centres Are Adapting

Note From the Editor

Don’t be discouraged from starting your AI journey! Yes, it’s true that AI is reshaping the role of the contact centre agent and putting many under increased pressure in the short term, as self-service options and AI take away many simpler queries.

Yet it’s equally hard to ignore the huge potential of AI in the long term – particularly the developments in augmentation that will make it quicker and easier for agents to do their job (however tricky those calls might be!).

Not forgetting AI-led features, such as auto-summaries for after-call work, that save agents from some of the more tedious work in the contact centre.

The winners will be those who succeed in capturing their teams’ hearts and minds, as they apply automation and augmentation in equal measure to create enhanced experiences that benefit customers and agents alike.

It’s all very exciting and I wish you the very best of luck!

Author: Stephen Pace
Reviewed by: Megan Jones